Sexual Function in Levothyroxine-Treated Hypothyroid Women and Women without Hypothyroidism: A Case-Control

Abstract

Background: Levothyroxine is the most common treatment to normalize thyroid hormones levels and to reduce primary hypothyroidism symptoms. Aim: To assess sexual function in women with levothyroxine-treated hypothyroidism and women without hypothyroidism. Methods: A case-control study was performed with 152 women with levothyroxine-treated hypothyroidism and 238 women without hypothyroidism. An online survey was used to collect socio-demographic data and the answers to the Women Sexual Function (WSF) questionnaire. Results: Women with levothyroxine-treated hypothyroidism showed a higher prevalence of sexual dysfunction than women in the control group (31.60% vs. 16.40%), furthermore the presence of hypothyroidism increased the risk of sexual dysfunction (p = 0.002, OR: 2.29 (1.36−3.88)). The most affected domains were ‘desire’ (p < 0.001), ‘arousal’ (p = 0.003) and ‘penetration pain’ (p = 0.020). In hypothyroid women, age increased the risk of sexual dysfunctions (p = 0.009, OR: 1.07 (1.01−1.12)), however when age was adjusted (ANCOVA) the sexual dysfunction remained in women with hypothyroidism in all domains. Conclusions: Hypothyroidism is associated with an increase in the prevalence of sexual dysfunction even if treated with levothyroxine and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels are normalized. Relevance to clinical practice: Sexual function in hypothyroid women should be assessed before and after starting the treatment.

Health-Related Quality of Life in Levothyroxine-Treated Hypothyroid Women and Women without Hypothyroidism: A Case–Control Study

“…Aging is related to changes in couple relationships, physical appearance, or sexuality, as well as to climacteric symptoms [42]. On the one hand, climacteric and menopause trigger a decline in the quality of life in women [43,44]; on the other hand, a previous study reported that hypothyroid women showed a higher prevalence of sexual disorder than non-hypothyroid women [11]. It is noteworthy that the mean age of our sample was lower than in other studies about HRQOL and hypothyroidism [31,38,41,45].…”

“…Hypothyroidism is a disease with an insidious course, characterized by very subtle initial symptoms that hinder the diagnosis. It may cause very different disorders: tiredness, impaired cognition, anxiety disorders, depressive symptoms, decreased information processing speed, reduced efficiency of executive functions, poor learning, dry and coarse skin, muscle weakness, sexual dysfunction, constipation, and weight gain [6][7][8][9][10][11].…”

“…Nonetheless, it has been observed in recent years that symptoms remain in some patients despite reaching euthyroidism [5,18]. For example, the persistency of tiredness complaints, cognitive dysfunction, sexual disorders, mood disorders, working memory disorders, and motor learning disorders in properly treated patients have been reported [11,[19][20][21][22]. On the contrary, several authors found no more neuropsychological problems in treated hypothyroid patients than in controls [23][24][25].…”

Thermal Ablation for Papillary Thyroid Microcarcinoma: How Far We Have Come?

“…Besides, it is believed that the thyroid hormone level can influence reproductive hormone levels as well as sexual and reproductive function. [52][53][54] Although the efficacies and positive treatment experiences of TA procedures have been determined in recent researches, still randomized controlled studies involving large numbers of patients and longer follow-up periods are required to further confirm this conclusion.…”

Coping profiles, depression, and body image anxiety during the Covid-19 pandemic: Comparative analysis of females with thyroid diseases and a non-clinical sample

“…Our findings have important implications for the psychological functioning of females with thyroid dysfunction as operationalized by body image. Several authors have observed relatively impaired psychosocial well-being and poor quality of life among females with thyroid disorders compared to healthy controls [ 40 , 41 ]. Nevertheless, until now, body image among females with thyroid dysfunctions has been studied predominantly among patients after thyroid surgery [e.g., 42 , 43 ], and thus little is known about how these women experience their body as a part of their everyday quality of life.…”